Continuing my theme for this week, an interesting article from
Business Day, a leading South African daily newspaper.
In other news, the
BBC put together excerpts from leading african newspapers commenting on
Botha's death. Notably, they are not very polite about the passing of
P.W. Botha. one of the few South African 'leaders' to say something of
value on this issue was Tokyo Sexwale [former Premier of Gauteng
Province and a political prisoner on Robben Island] who is quoted on
the BBC website as saying:
"We should not forget the kind of regime he represented, he was
ruthless, he was brutal, he was a leader of apartheid during the
harshest years of that regime, the sad truth is that he is leaving
with many secrets which he should have revealed perhaps during the
time of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission."
I agree a lot with the article below by Mvoko and also feel that the
South African government and civil society has missed a great
opportunity to deal effectively with the negative history that their
country is still trying to succesfully emerge from.
Groot Krokodil: when moving on obscures historical perspective
by Vuyo Mvoko
________________________________
THERE are times when I do get to appreciate just how lucky I am. In a
country of more than 40-million people, I'm one of very few people who
have the privilege to occupy, and sometimes command, a public space
many other South Africans only dream of.
Every week, through this column, I get to speak to elected public
representatives, as well to business people who have every right to
conduct their affairs and spend their millions the way they deem fit.
Members of the public greet me and are sometimes full of praise for a
job they say I sometimes do well.
It can only be good for a fragile but extraordinary ego of a boy from
an Eastern Cape township, brought up by a domestic worker
grandmother and a "painter's boy" grandfather. I have sat in front of
presidents and other world leaders, and now tell them what they should
be thinking, saying and doing.
But I must also say that secretly I often battle with under- or
overplaying my role and influence, to say nothing of the discomfort
that sometimes comes with thoughts such as: What if I get proven
wrong? and, Am I imposing my "narrow" world view on others? It
particularly struck me this week, as I listened, watched and read what
everyone was saying about PW Botha, following the apartheid SA prime
minister's death. I felt an awkward sense of betrayal when people I
regard ay my leaders — Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Desmond Tutu —
chose to say very little, if anything, about the atrocious man that we
came to know as Die Groot Krokodil.
Born in the ordinary Free State town of Paul Roux and of ordinary
Afrikaner parents, Pieter Willem Botha died this week with a solid
reputation of being one of the most appalling men to have presided
over the apartheid machinery. He chose to be evil, killing and maiming
thousands of innocent black people, and imposed his narrow world view
on all of us. Until the second he died, we took care of his basic
needs, his health, welfare, security and comfort: privileges which
still remain beyond the reach of millions of black people.
I was ready to dance on Botha's grave when, on behalf of all citizens,
including me, Mbeki expressed "heartfelt condolences" to the Botha
family. Botha's death, I sincerely believed, should have been used to
teach generations that may have never directly experienced his
viciousness that we would have indeed gone very far as a nation had we
not had people like that finger-wagging racist.
Albeit temporarily, Botha made apartheid succeed where it could have
failed. His relaxation of some laws — such as the Immorality Act and
for which some, FW de Klerk included, now believe Botha deserves
credit — were never about a change of heart but were dismal attempts
at buying time. Botha's half-hearted "reforms" remain inconsistent
with everything he did afterwards. For me, there were no obvious
reasons for a liberation movement that the African National Congress
(ANC) says it still is to be as kind to Botha and his rotten legacy.
It prompts the question: does being "a nation at work" now mean that
when opportunities arise for us to put our history into perspective,
we will shy away from that because we need to "move on"? And if that
is the case, is it the sort of thing that the ANC leadership will,
from now on, seek to impress on the minds of its cadreship that it has
deployed in every sphere of our public lives? Will the ANC leadership,
for example, tell its deployees in the SABC that what they committed
themselves to after meeting a parliamentary committee early this week
is perhaps not the right thing to do?
SABC board chairman Eddie Funde, still pissed off at the leak of the
"blacklisting" report implicating news head Snuki Zikalala, apparently
made an undertaking to investigate the source of the leak. This means
that there is still another sideshow in the Zikalala saga — before the
SABC even begins to deal with the issues raised around Zikalala's
management style and journalistic integrity.
Long after everybody else was reporting on Botha's death, the SABC's
10pm news bulletin was still leading with a Helen Zille piece. If the
SABC board focused on the real issues, it could start by confronting
the challenges facing the national public broadcaster, which have a
lot to do with journalism. While the SABC is not really short of money
or bodies it can call journalists, getting scribes with skills, and
keeping them, remains an elusive goal, something that is not helped by
Zikalala's management style and (mis)conception of what a journalist
should do.
My ego notwithstanding, and my thirst for dead Botha's blood refusing
to go away, I am, for once, prepared to let bygones be bygones.
Focusing on the past; hunting down those who may have wronged you;
listening to your ego; abusing your privileged public position;
wanting to be right all the time — all those things may be good for
revenge and point-scoring, but they may just keep your eyes away from
your goal.
Time to let any old and poison-filled Groot Krokodil die, lest we wake
it up only to destroy our future.
Mvoko is an independent media and political consultant.
